Longmont police: We can't crack down on legal marijuana use

Longmont police are asking residents to avoid calling the department's communications center to complain about neighbors smoking marijuana inside those neighbors' own homes or apartments.

"We've been getting a fair amount" of such calls, said police Cmdr. Jeff Satur, particularly from people objecting to what they say is the smell of marijuana smoke drifting outside the smokers' homes.

Some people have continuously been calling dispatchers demanding that officers be sent to stop the pot smokers from lighting up inside their residences, something Satur said "is frustrating for us" because "we can't."

"It's not illegal," Satur said, as long as the smokers are age 21 or older, if they possess no more pot than the law's limits allow, and if they're doing their puffing privately — such as inside their own homes or those of friends or family members.

Notwithstanding any offensive orders that might waft outside.

Satur and police made that point in a Facebook posting on Wednesday, noting that Colorado voters approved such personal possession and private recreational use of marijuana when they adopted Amendment 64 in 2012.

Under that state constitutional amendment and the laws the Legislature subsequently adopted to implement it, smoking marijuana in the privacy of a home is just as allowable as it is for someone age 21 and older to drink alcoholic beverages inside a house or apartment, Satur said.

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"People need to realize that right now, it's legal," Satur said in an interview. He said having to deal with such calls can be a waste of dispatchers' and officers' time when they're trying to put priorities on cracking down on activities that do violate laws.

Even if the smokers are renters and are violating a no-smoking provision that may be in their leases, lease violations are a civil issue and not a crime, Satur said.

Boulder police spokeswoman Laurie Ogden said her department's officers do check out and investigate complaints about what's suspected to be marijuana-related odors wafting from a home or apartment.

In part, Ogden said, that's because Boulder has its own noxious-odors ordinance. Also, she said, the smells may signal an illegal growing operation with more plants than the law permits the individual users or caretaking growers of recreational or medical marijuana.

Satur and his counterparts in other Boulder County police departments did agree that public consumption of marijuana is illegal.

Satur said Longmont police will enforce that prohibition and try to locate and ticket the violators if dispatchers get a call about someone spotted smoking pot in a park or doing so openly and and in plain view outside a residence or other private building.

"If you're smoking in a spot where the general public can see you," that's a violation police can enforce, Satur said, and people cited for public consumption might be fined up to $100 and ordered to put in 24 hours of community service.

He said it's also illegal for anyone under age 21 to posses or smoke marijuana, or for anyone of any age to drive while under the influence of marijuana.

If someone spots someone smoking what's suspected to be pot while the smoker is driving or is sitting on a porch or is walking on a public sidewalk — or if the smoker appears to be younger than 21 — that's something police can deal with, Satur said.

"We're more than happy to take action on that," he said

Satur said, though, that there's little police can do when people leave anonymous messages about situations where they believe marijuana laws are being violated. He said such calls often don't allow police to follow up, conduct investigations and find and charge those who may actually be violating state marijuana laws.

Satur said Longmont police also have gotten calls asking how to reverse the current state marijuana laws. He said people with objections to those laws should contact their state legislators, or get in touch with any groups or individuals who might be interested in placing another constitutional amendment on the state ballot.

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